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By Brian Stelter and Sebnem ArsuThe New York Times • Wednesday December 19, 2012 9:04 AM

Richard Engel, the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, and three of his crew members were
freed on Monday after five days in captivity in Syria, the news organization said yesterday.

The journalists were unharmed. NBC released a short statement that said: “We are pleased to
report they are safely out of the country.”

The identities of the kidnappers and their motives were unknown. But an article on the NBC News
website quotes Engel as saying that their captors “were talking openly about their loyalty to the
government” of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says Syria is “the world’s most-dangerous place for the
press.”

In another development yesterday, Russia deployed warships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the
Defense Ministry announced. It appeared to be preparation for a possible evacuation of Russian
citizens from Syria.

Moscow staunchly opposes international intervention in Syria and has blocked U.N. Security
Council resolutions meant to force Assad from power. Officials said yesterday that Russia’s
position has not changed.

However, Moscow has signaled in recent days that it sees Assad’s forces losing ground, and that
it is beginning to prepare for a chaotic transition period. One immediate concern is the large
number of Russian citizens scattered across Syria.

The fighting continued yesterday as Syrian jets bombed a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus
for the second time this week after rebels made significant advances, activists said.

NBC declined to specify the number of crew members who were with Engel. Two of them, John
Kooistra and Ghazi Balkiz, appeared with Engel on NBC’s
Today show yesterday. A third, Aziz Akyavas, said in an interview on the Turkish
television channel NTV that a technician who traveled with the crew still was missing. NBC did not
respond to a request for comment about that report.

Engel and the crew members covertly entered Syria several times this year to report on the
insurgency. Engel was last seen on television on Thursday in a taped report from Aleppo.

He and his crew apparently crossed the border into Turkey to transmit their report in safety.
Their effort to cross back into Syria on Thursday led to their capture.

About 15 men, Engel said on the
Today show, “jumped out of the trees and bushes” and “dragged us out of the car.” NBC’s
website said there was “no claim of responsibility, no contact with the captors, and no request for
ransom during the time the crew was missing.”

The NBC crew members were freed when the captors ran into a checkpoint operated by members of a
Syrian rebel group, NBC’s website reported. The rebels helped escort the crew to the border with
Turkey.